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REAL Certified

EatREAL is an organization dedicated to helping restaurants and other foodservice entities serve meals that are ethical and healthful. Since an ethical meal includes responsibly produced food, EatREAL worked with the ASPCA to integrate comprehensive farm animal welfare standards into its restaurant certification program, REAL Certified. There are currently nearly 500 REAL Certified restaurants across 32 states.

Starting in 2021, any REAL Certified restaurant or other entity must source an entire food animal category (e.g., pork) or the most-purchased animal product (e.g., ground beef) from farms that are Animal Welfare Approved, Certified Humane, or Global Animal Partnership (GAP) Step 2 or above—the three meaningful welfare certification programs recognized by the ASPCA’s Shop With Your Heart initiative. This new requirement will make REAL Certified the first foodservice certification program to address health, sustainability and animal welfare, and highlights the importance and interconnection of farm animal welfare in an ethical food system.